Theatrical apparatus.



E. B. HUB-FORD.

THEATRICAL APPARATUS.

APPLICATION HLED APR-25,1917.

Patented May 14, 1918.

A TTOR/VEYS WITNESSES EBENEZER B. HURFORD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

THEATRICAL APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1918.

Application filed April 25, 1917. Serial No. 164,387.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EBnNEznR B. HUR- rono, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of LTGW York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Theatrical Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Among the principal objects which the present invention has in view are: to provide a water screen and means for rendering the same non-transparent; to provide a container having normally transparent walls with means for changing the walls so as to form a screen for the interior of the container; to provide means for introducing a person or object into the container with and to provlde means forout detection; withdrawing a filling liquid from the container without its being observed.

Drawings.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention;

2 Fig 22 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a cross section, the section being taken as on the line 33 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4: is a detail view of a closure valve between the interior of the receptacle and the interior of the wall thereof.

Description.

As seen in the drawings, the container is constructed with double walls. The outer walls 9 and the inner walls 10 when the container is constructed in panels, are joined at the corners by molding strips 11 and 12. The joints between the strips 11 and 12 and the glass walls or sides 9 and 10, are made water tight so that a body 13 of water may be retained between the walls 9 and 10. The space between the walls 9 and 10 is filed through a passage normally closed by a valve 14. The valve 1 1 is incorporated in the framing strip 15, and has a handle 16 extended beyond the receptacle. In practice, the handle 16 is so disposed as to be concealed from the view of an audience or persons looking at the receptacle from in front thereof.

Disposed in the bottom of the space between the Walls 9 and 10 and concealed behoused by a leg shown in Fig.

2 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale, the section being taken as on the 11116 hind the frame 17 thereof, is a perforated pipe 18. The pipe 18 is suitably connected with a supply pipe 19. The pipe 19 is 20 of a table 21. The pipe 19 extends belowthe floor on which the table rests in service and is provided at a convenient point with a valve 22. A preferred construction of the pipe 18 is best 3 of the drawings.

The interior of the container or receptacle is provided with a drain pipe 23. The pipe 28 is contained within the frame of the "table 21, and descends through the leg thereof to-below the floor or stage on which the said table rests.

' The receptacle has a trap door 2 1' secured in service by a hinge 25, to the bottom 26 of the receptacle. The bottom 26 is constructed preferably of metal and the joint between the said door 2% and the said bottom is sealed by a rubber gasket 27, which in service is housed in a pendent annular flange 28. The door 24 is normally held closed by a latch 29.

When provided with an apparatus -constructed and arranged as above described and as shown 1n the accompanying drawings, the operation is as follows:

The table and receptacle are placed in position on the stage. Provision is made for secret connections of the pipes 19 and 23. A mirror, 30, which is inactively supported at the under side of the top of the table 21, is permitted to drop into the position shown best in Fig. 2 of the drawings after evidence has been produced to show that there is nothing to conceal from view behind or under said table. The operator now proceeds to fill the receptacle with water. The valve 14: is opened to permit part of the water which is introduced into the main body of the receptacle to flow into the space between the walls 9 and 10 thereof.

hen the receptacle has been completely filled with water, the space between the walls 9 and 10 will be found also to have been completely filled to the same height as the receptacle.

When the audience has been convinced that the receptacle is filled with water, the operator goes through the action of throwing some powder into the water, while at the same time a second operator below the stage opens the valve 20 to permit compressed gas or air to flow upward through the pipe 19 for distribution through the pipe 18 and upward through the body of the Water contained in the space between the walls 9 and 10. The rapid ebullition renders the body of water 13 non-transpicuous.

During the period when the body of water 13 is thus clouded the operator below the stage, after the valve 14: has been closed to seal the space between the walls 9 and 10, opens the valve 31 to permit the water contained in the receptacle to be drawn therefrom. In some suitable manner, the person or object to enter the receptacle is introduced behind the mirror 30. When the water has been drained from the receptacle, the latch 29 is released and the door 2 1 is opened to permit the introduction into the receptacle of the person or object, the door being then closed. The 0perator below the stage closes the valve 22 and suspends the flow of air or gas through the pipe 18 into the body of water 13 between the walls 9 and 10.

The water forming the body 13 is now allowed to clear, when to the eye of the audience the person or object within the receptacle becomes visible. To carry the illusion further, the object or person is drenched with water and is lifted from the top of the receptacle and apparently out of the water contained therein.

If it is desired to carry the illusion still further, the pipe 23 is utilized for reintro- Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

ducing the water into the body of said receptacle after the person or object has been introduced through the door 24, care, of course, being taken to lift the person or object from the receptacle and from the water contained therein before any accident results therefrom.

Claims.

1. An apparatus as characterized comprising a water-holding container having transparent liquid-filled walls; means for producing at will an ebullition of the liquid contained in said walls; means for withdrawing liquid from said container; and

means for introducing an object into said container at the bottom thereof.

2. An apparatus as characterized comprising a water-holding container having liquidfilled walls; means for rendering the liquid EBENEZER B. HURFORD.

Washington, D. G. 

